Google will pay $500 million to settle charges that it sold advertisements to illicit online pharmacies based in Canada, US justice officials announced on Wednesday. The Canadian online pharmacies broke the law by selling prescription drugs to Americans without complying with US safety standards, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
The pharmacies used Google's Adwords programs to target customers in the United States, and the Internet search giant allowed the ads to appear on its website from 2003 to 2009, it said. Google first disclosed that it was under investigation in a May filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and set aside $500 million in anticipation of the results of the probe.
The online-pharmacy probe is separate from a different, more far-reaching investigation into Google on possible antitrust violations, which Google disclosed in June. "This investigation is about the patently unsafe, unlawful importation of prescription drugs by Canadian online pharmacies, with Google's knowledge and assistance, into the United States, directly to US consumers," US Attorney Peter Neronha said in the Department of Justice statement.